//------------------------------// // Next Steps // Story: Left Behind: Sunny Disposition // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Several ponies were in the keep, demonstrating a large assortment of different colored tissues in the hopes that the alicorn might adopt one for her castle. As she had no true funds yet, everything came from the fear the ponies had for the mare and the increased tourism brought on by the moon pony's appearance in Snowfege. "I think a silver double trim for the banners would be splendid," one suggested as he passed a night blue cloth along his forelegs. "A thinner line would run parallel of the thicker outer lining." "No, no! That's cliché!" another seamstress complained. She pushed the pony aside and brought out some yellow ribbons from her box. "Let us go with yellow instead! The moon and night are always black and silver, or at least a very dark blue." "I agree!" a third chimed in. "You need bombastic colors to tell the world that you are here!" The mare's bravado quickly extinguished when she remembered whom she was speaking to. She quickly shrunk away. "Y-your majesty." Moon grumbled. They had been at this for half an hour now, and even she was nowhere close to a final decision on anything. "I need something to stick by. I'm tempted to use my old colors, but this is a new era. One in which I am not welcome, but shall impose myself within all the same." One of the many designers clapped his hooves, bringing the attention of the others toward him. "How inspiring!" he cheered. He hopped forward, through the crowd. "A dullahan?" Moon noted. "Is that the name of your tribe?" the mare asked. The pony nodded enthusiastically, causing his limbs to wobble like a sail in a storm. His black coat shimmered in the light coming from outside. Had it not been for a large gash on the right side of his torso and the vibrant, neon green pupils, Nightmare Moon believed that it would become incredibly difficult to discern these creatures from one another. A thought crossed her mind at that moment: How did animals differentiate from each other? "Yes, your highness!" The alicorn was briefly disturbed by the strange enthusiasm demonstrated by this designer. Was this what Celestia had to deal with on a regular basis? "I thought your kind didn't like coming to immense cities like this one," Moon noted. The pony waved a hoof. "Oh it isn't that big," he said dismissively. "And you're here to offer your services to me, but you stand out with your...volume," Moon said. Chuckles escaped the dullahan. "Yes. I was told to be as loud as possible when coming here. Apparently, royalty likes to be loud so you have to be louder?" Moon jerked her jaw left and right. "I suppose that's the case for other...ponies beneath me." "Your highness," a guard called out. He was met with a tired glare by the alicorn. "What is it now? I'm busy." The guard looked behind himself briefly. "Well, there's a group of thestrals that just appeared outside the castle walls." "And they aren't flying inside?" The guard shook his head. "Hmmm. I will resume our talks later. Come up with concrete plans on my return," she ordered the artisans. Following the guard, the alicorn flew atop the wall and looked down on a respectable contingent of black ponies. The mare noted that each of them were wearing an assortment of ragged armor. Poorly sewn together leather that was cracked and rough, unpolished and poorly tempered steel plates, and some gambeson with multi-colored patches. Their 'weapons', to Nightmare Moon's judgmental gaze, were in just as shabby a state. Swords, spears, pitchforks, hoes, shovels, and two scythes. Only the farming tools were in any acceptable state. Behind the group were five open, wooden wagons carrying an odd assortment of unknown items. Everything had been wrapped in clothing. One of the thestrals stepped forward when she saw Moon arrive. "Your highness, we heard that you came to our forest in search of an army! We aren't much of an army, but you can be assured of our loyalty and eagerness to learn!" "Uh huh..." Moon mumbled. "How many are you?" The pony turned to her fellows and started talking to each other. "We are fifty-three strong!" she shouted proudly. The others imitated her. "It's better than nothing," one of the guards said to the alicorn. She was loathe to admit it and fought against every fiber of her being demanding she intimidate the pony down a peg, but it was true. He stated what she refused to admit to herself. Moon wanted an immense thestral army to cement her rule in the territories she would recover, and then integrate the others. It was a constant repetition to herself that never really led anywhere. "Fine. Open the gates. Let them into the courtyard," Moon ordered as she flew down. The thestrals looked in awe at the black, polished stone comprising the castle and chatted with each other casually, commenting on what they were seeing. Masons occupied with measuring and calculating the size of the stones needed to continue expanding and repairing the castle grumbled when they saw the ponies arrive. The thestrals' eyes widened when they saw the alicorn of the night towering before them and quickly went silent. However, the moment the gates closed behind them, they all shrank in fear. "You aren't here as tourists or visitors!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs. She stomped around the group as they gradually backed into each other. "You came here to act as the first of my soldiers! Your training will be far different than what you learn at your homes, and what my personal guards here around have learned as well!" The alicorn's eyes started to grow and the sky above started flickering between day and night, with the many moons appearing separately from each other. "There's no more easy life for you." The magic lessened and she raised a brow. "However," she started with a calmer voice. "My main concern is where you are going to live." Moon looked around the castle to see its many future extensions being built and designed. "The barracks are occupied. There is no room for the rest of you." One of the thestrals wearily stepped forward and raised a wing. "We thought you wouldn't let us live in the castle so we had brought tents and wood to make fire." Surprised, Moon nodded. "Planning in advance?" She rubbed her chin. "Yes. That could work. I think you just created a new tradition for my future troops," she stated gleefully. "Pegasus!" she bellowed. One of the pegasi halted above her. "Yes, your highness?" "Find a suitable location for my new recruits to set up camp. Return to me when it is done and I will go and check upon them." The guard nodded and flew to the thestrals, ordering them to follow him. Their wagons were left behind in the castle grounds for the time being. "If they can return to the villages after becoming proper soldiers, then they can sway the ponies there to follow me. Conscription never works..." She looked around with a narrowed gaze. "Although it's not completely off the table," she muttered slyly to herself. The alicorn returned to the decorators in the keep and was pleased to find them arguing about colors, albeit constructively bouncing upon one another. She approached the excitable dullahan and asked for his name. He was named Caerlmàn, and he was there to bring great praise to his family at the same time as following his dream. Moon took note of his behavior for the future. Whether he would be an asset or not was left to be seen. If he proved himself he might become her 'royal decorator' or whatever title she felt like making up on the spot. No progress had been made by the time night was starting to fall, and the ponies left with many plans and designs ready for their next visit. The alicorn pondered the best places to start her expansion to eventually corner the king and make him pay for killing her first vassal when she was so agreeable to leave him everything but his title. "Y-your highness?" a familiar and sheepish voice called out. "Ah, Sunny. Come in. You just missed the decorators," the alicorn said. The nervous stallion was carrying saddle bags again and dropped them on the floor with a click. He removed the latches with his teeth and shook out several scrolls and parchments. Moon watched over him with curiosity. "What is this?" Sunny cursed to himself when he dropped a parchment and it rolled open. "I-it's all the nearby duchies, baronies, and so on that would be loyal to you just by you appearing. Then I found a list of regions where you would likely have to negotiate their loyalties, places that might try to remain neutral, and the ones that you would be forced to..." Sunny gulped and felt his blood ice over. "Go to war against." The alicorn raised the many, many parchments and maps and looked them over. Sunny had circled many locations and added a plethora of notes to everything. "Impressive, Sunny." Moon looked more closely at some of the maps. "A few of the loyals are close to this city, but a lot are scattered about Equestria." She hummed pensively to herself. "And what are these regions you colored black? The ones I must conquer?" Sunny did his best to gather himself before responding. "N-no. They're areas that are ruled by non-ponies, like that region we went to with the griffins and that weird, two-legged bird lady." Moon nodded. "Right. Calostell. The one that reeks of chaos magic." A frown grew across the pony's face. "I still cannot understand how the literal embodiments of chaos and order were taken out by those fanatics." She unfurled a few more maps before resuming. "And what of those idiots who claimed they were related to me?" "They're part of these territories, but many lost their lands to the hippogriffs and griffins in wars not too long ago." He passed a hoof through his mane. "They're considered lost, like how Snowfege is pony territory that the griffins lost a century ago." The alicorn grit her teeth. "Will the idiot night nobles offer resources to me immediately?" Moon asked. "Well, you saw how they acted when you showed yourself to them. Most likely they will if it means getting more clout in their horrific and disgusting world." Sunny was met with a chuckle by his great aunt. "It's a world that ponies like me can manipulate with ease, especially considering their blind adoration of me." Moon laid the parchments and maps down and looked at her nephew directly in his eyes. "Whom do you recommend we send a message of a future visit to first?" She looked briefly at the exit of her keep and the carpenters taking measurements of the entryway. "I have future soldiers to train myself." Calostell had her legs propped up against a riggedy, slapped-together table in the underground city she ruled over. An oil lamp hung precariously above her on a rusty hook that looked like it would give way at any moment. She looked on at the activity of her home and the lives being made there. She smiled when she heard someone falling in through one of the many trap doors, accompanied by the loud jingling of loot. The bird shivered with excitement. Loot was the best thing the strange creature adored more than anything. Normally, she would be theorizing what the loot was before going to greet the ne'er-do-wells just to see for curiosity's sake, but lately, she had been feeling...lax? Tired? Bored? There wasn't really a logical term for what she felt. She grabbed a beat-up, metallic mug sitting next to her clawed toes and rotated it around. Nothing was in it, its content having been drunk a while back, but it didn't hurt to just do that movement. That is, until it filled up with a murky red-purple gooey substance that rose up to look at the anthropomorphic bird and reveal a gloopy, hollow mouth. Calostell screamed in shock and threw the mug away while falling on the rotted wood floor of the house she rested in front of. The mug had become empty when she let go of it. She peered at her hands and at the empty vessel, trying her best to calm her panicked heart. Clenched fists were the only thing that came to fruition. Weird occurrences around her had been becoming more and more frequent, like a flood of pink cockroaches made of bubblegum coming out of the stone and mud walls or orange juice replacing the trickling water. Luckily it wasn't drunk since it reminded the people of the underground city of tainted water. The less 'fun' ones were literal bodies growing from the walls with their ribcages jutting outwards and the bones sharpened to a fine point. The victim reached out towards the bird with sharpened talons and hollow eyes decorated by a tiny, almost imperceptible white dot. Without Bombastic's interventions, these more horrific apparitions would have likely become far worse. Calostell didn't want to remember them. She was taken out of what was to be a panic attack by something grabbing the mug and looking inside it. It was a pony covered in a black cloak. "I see you have powers you can't control," they commented. "What?" Calostell responded aggressively. "I can help you learn how to use them." They shook a covered hoof. "But not control them. That part is up to you." "And who are you that comes out of nowhere into my h...How did you get here? Who invited you?" The pony shrugged. The jostling of their cloak momentarily revealed a white body underneath, but it seemed too uneven and pale, even for a white-coated pony. "A purveyor of unique talents in need of work and training. Your unique magic called me here," they mused. The mug refilled with the living slime, stunning Calostell. "I can show you what these powers of yours can do, if you let me. The bird looked to the mug, then the pony, then back, several times over. "I could...give it a shot, I suppose, but not alone." "Just trying is more than enough." Calostell noticed a strange shadow under the cloak, like an immense, toothless smile had just formed, and beady white dots were peering at her. She would need everyone to watch her back and that of this creature, too. Just having the horrific events stop was more than enough to give it a chance.